In this full length story, find out why the Riddler is spinning like a top and why he just won’t go down despite the punches that Batman and Robin keep delivering to his face. Okay… the real answer is that he’s high on drugs!

Edward Nigma is released from jail after serving a term that lasted 17 years, well at least since his last story which was published in 1948. The Warden of the State Penitentiary personally sees Mr. Nigma on his way but not before getting a riddle, “Why do the cons in this prison call it “Fiddler’s Hotel?” The Warden can’t answer, and the newly minted ex-con won’t give him a hint either. Anyway, the Riddler’s back in society.

Picking up a newspaper, Nigma learns that Batman and Robin are having trouble capturing the “Mole Hill Mob,” due to their quick escapes through the city’s sewer system. Having something planned for the duo, the Riddler decides that in order to get their full attention, he’ll have to team up with our heroes. The next day, he finds them and gives his spiel. Batman and Robin are instantly leery of him due to the memories they share, where he threw rings at them and made them run around in a glass maze. The caped crimefighter pauses, thinks for a moment about the current case, and allows Nigma to come along, even if he’s wearing his Riddler costume. The job will begin at 8PM, near the square.

Later that day, Dick is manages to use up all his letters in Scrabble, spelling (you guessed it!) “Riddler.” The last time I saw all letters used was “actress,” and I didn’t play it. Urgh…

At 2000 hours, the Riddler greets the duo near Washington Square and opens up a manhole for them. They enter, eventually finding the Molehill Gang’s hideout, furnished with a table for lying down. The criminals rise in attention and activate a trap for the trio. A lot of electronically controlled manhole covers come shooting at Batman, and a wall of cables start whipping around in a frenzy. Robin and the Riddler are attacked by a rolling cable drum, and the Boy Wonder kicks it into a circuit breaker. With Batman trying to hold onto the cables, the thugs start ganging up on him.

The narrator, as a change of pace, makes the reader a character in the story, seeing everything through the eyes of a person yet to be introduced in the story. Meanwhile, we read about Batman’s latest case where the duo chase after a group of thieves on the run after stealing something unspecified. While the masked manhunter takes care of two of them, two more run to a fire hydrant with a hose attached and turn on the waterworks, hitting our hero with tremendous force. Robin catches up, but when the two go after the thugs, they get hit by the hose, which was till turned on.

The scene shifts to a lot where the thieves decide to put a wrecking ball to work. While the duo pound at their suspects, the ball swings down from a height, Batman punches it and barely gets a scratch. The two fall to the ground momentarily, allowing the thieves to get away for the time being. Robin asks how Batman did it, and it’s flashback time.

The previous day, Bruce went to the Alfred Foundation Laboratories to see the progress of the research and development being done. The reader is one of those scientists working there and has developed a “weather-proof” chemical that prevents wood from rotting away when in contact with salt water or even insects. His research is almost complete, but all he needs to do is find an “X-factor,” despite the fact he’s carrying a beaker of “X-23.” One of the visitors, Orval Manning, is rather clumsy and accidentally spills some of the solution on to Bruce’s hands. Nobody seems to be worried, especially since it didn’t burn off his manicures.

As the day goes on, more and more inventions are displayed, including a burglar device shaped like a radio called an “encephitector.” This particular machine detects the alpha waves of the human brain, activating if it senses criminal intent. If you watched last week’s Nova Science NOW, you’d know the brainwaves don’t really determine such behavior. Later in the Batcave, Batman has already obtained an ecephitector, amped up to 11 to increase its range. He puts in in the Batmobile’s dashboard for a trial run. This brings us to the present, after they chased that gang of thieves.

They continue driving about town after picking themselves up and dusting off their costumes. The encephitector (phew!) picks up a signal of a robbery in progress. This time it’s not the guys they’re looking for, and rather than going in through the doors, Batman decides to punch a hole in the wall. He tells Robin that the water was the X-factor the chemical needed, allowing him to punch through bricks effortlessly. Yup, you couldn’t even bother to put water in the X-23, scientist reader.

Batman smashes the wall in, surprising the criminals inside who were emptying cash boxes. Robin is told to go after the other thieves and call the police, while his partner attempts to round up the gang without wounding them. The powered manhunter leaps and somersaults around the shop as a display, and leaps down on his two perps, knocking them out.

Meanwhile, Robin finds the gang using the ecephitector, climbing up a building for a view. Inside, “Bull” Fleming can’t believe that his men got away and that Batman punched a wrecking ball. They leave their office, and Robin swings down on them, knocking one out, however, he has to contend with five other thugs. Batman strolls down the street to find the teenage thunderbolt strong-armed and rushes to his aid by smashing a flower-shop sign and throwing it at a thug. The entire gang is quickly taken care of, and the newspapers are all abuzz about Batman’s new-found super strength.

As an epilogue, while the reader walks home and smokes his pipe, he wonders if Batman and Bruce Wayne are the same person because of the X-23.

Three criminals (a very common trope, don’t they ever come in six packs?) are being pursued by our heroes after stealing the factory’s payroll. The thieves run atop roof tops, easily jumping small gaps and walking across conveniently located planks. Batman and Robin ready their ropes to swing across to the other side, attaching their loops to air vent pipes. When they do manage to reach the other building, the pipes suddenly bend, forcing the duo to go down to the streets. They go back up to the roof, and find that somebody has cut the pipes at such an angle that any excess force would cause them to topple over.

The master criminal Roy Reynolds celebrates his latest success with the two other thieves. He boasts that his cunning genius, which has allowed him to lay traps all around the city, will defeat the crimefighting duo. Each gimmick he makes is not concentrated toward actually getting rid of Batman, rather they are made to help Reynolds achieve a successful escape. As Reynolds continues his speech, he reminds his colleagues that they have gotten away three times due to his handiwork. “Whoever dooms Batman– dooms himself!,” he remarks.

A few nights later, Reynolds and his men have looted a department store. Batman and Robin chase them in the Batmobile, but as they reach the road to the quarry, their car spins out of control. It crashes into a nearby telephone pole, throwing the two out of the car. Reynolds rigged his car with an oil slick dispenser, ensuring their safe getaway.

The duo get on their feet and dust themselves off, figuring out exactly what is the deal with the Reynolds trio. Batman notices that every time they chase the gang, their ringleader never bothers to finish off them, focusing solely on the escape. On the way back home, they decide to make Reynolds come after them next time around.

A few days later, Reynolds is reading the paper, enjoying the recent exploits of the masked manhunter as he took down a villain called the Hexer. Whatever he did, it involved using the Bat-Signal in an “occult manner,” only to be foiled by the one in the sky. Reynolds puts down his newspaper, still laughing at the story of the Hexer and goes check on his recently stolen artifacts, a chess set studded in gold and jewels once owned by Napoleon and Bismarck. Tonight, he will stage another robbery and he will use this Hexer’s gimmick to ensure his success.

That night, as the Reynolds thugs are being chased, the master criminal activates the Bat-Signal. The light of the signal causes the emblems on Batman and Robin’s chest to expand into a taffy trap, leaving them unable to use their arms. The two thugs decide to use this opportunity to shoot the duo, but Batman and Robin use their legs at them, kicking and throwing the thieves. Reynolds sits in a getaway car, waiting for the two. Realizing that they didn’t follow that simple instruction, he decides to go back to the hideout.

The police arrive to arrest the thieves, giving kudos to Batman’s plan. It turns out there never was a Hexer, and the thing wrapping their arms were just inflatable straitjackets. The thugs were tricked into attacking the duo, and when they learn their folly they get angry at how their boss has abandoned them, never mind that they forgot their most important rule, RUN. Roy Reynolds is trying to getaway with his loot but Batman and Robin bust through the door, arresting him.

For an epilogue, Commissioner Gordon asks how did they get so close if the thugs were practically shooting at point blank? The straitjackets were bulletproof, Batman replies with a grin.

Isn’t this a story perfect for Halloween, despite it being sold in January? Despite Batman fighting a hag, there isn’t much pagan imagery.

The story begins with a rather cute scene of four white mice pulling a pumpkin coach in the middle of the street, sort of like in the Cinderella movie. A witch swoops down to the ground and casts a spell turning the rodent palanquin into a car and the mice? They’re gangsters! I sure as hell don’t know what came first, the thugs or the mice, much less why she even had such a carriage stroll down the streets of Gotham.

At a bank, the witch uses her powers to open the doors, allowing her minions to a chance to rob the place. Batman and Robin, after receiving a notice about a strange woman riding a broom in the sky, arrive on time to stop the criminals before they get away in their cars. While the two wallop the thugs, their opponents remark how fit and athletic our heroes are before they fall into a heap. In a matter of seconds, all four get up again grinning like fools. Batman tries to punch one of them, but his fist goes right through his hatted foe.

Flying above, the witch cackles at Batman’s failure to apprehend their suspects. She proclaims that she has stolen the first of their five senses, touch, due to their inability to punch her goons. Robin jumps on the getaway car, while his partner drives close behind him. Trying to car-surf isn’t a very good idea, as Robin falls off and hits a lamppole. As the Batmobile drives by, the lad quickly picks himself up and jumps into the car. Hardy kid isn’t he?

Heading into the outskirts of the city, the witch makes the car disappears and flies into the mysterious Cave of Winds. The duo get out their car, and follow her only to find that their sense of hearing has been taken away. Batman tackles Robin and together they plummet down a chasm hitting the water below. Robin looks up and realizes that his partner saved them both from the rocks the witch made fall. They emerge from the water, regaining their hearing.

Both decide to leave the cave, and Batman has to pull Robin away once again. Right after an explosion, the masked manhunter tells the boy wonder that their sense of smell has been disabled. The primroses outside may have something to do with this.

The duo head back to the Batmobile and find the a barn surrounded by scarecrows. They enter the farm, only to be attacked by the witch, who shoots her magic at Batman, turning him into a strawman. Robin figures out there’s only one way to defeat her, and he lassos the hag, forcing her to lose her flying broom. She falls to the ground and Robin easily seizes the broom.

Batman deals with the goons inside the farmhouse, who count their cash in a rather lackadaisical fashion rather than pay attention to the commotion outside. The beats up all four, and emerges to find Robin still fiddling with the broom. Batman takes a look and the machine turns on, and the voice that emerges from it is the Outsider. He reveals the entire story was just an exercise to waste the crime-fighting duo’s time. Next time, Batman and Robin won’t be so lucky, blah blah blah.

What seemed like a rather promising story does fall flat in the end, as it was just the Outsider’s doing. How did he make this witch and steal their senses? Who knows, maybe some fancy technological doodad as usual.

Another classic member of the caped crusader’s rogue gallery emerges in this story, as he must match wits with the most gentlemanly of sharp-nosed criminals, the Penguin.

In a rather ho-hum evening, the Penguin walks around his hideout hoping to pull off a crime worthy of his talents or his umbrellas. As with most of these rogues, he can’t settle for a simple robbery, he’ll need to commit something dastardly enough to catch the attention of his arch-nemesis, Batman. After a little fretting and hawing, he’s found his plan. With a hearty cackle, tomorrow will be “Umbrella Day!”

The next morning, outside of a jewelry store, the Penguins thugs are handing out umbrellas to passersby. Right next the store is a sign promising a raffle for anyone who walks inside with these brollies. The proprietor inside doesn’t realize what’s happening outside until people start coming in. At 10 o’clock, the store full of umbrella holding customers suddenly open up and shoot out lightning and moving around uncontrollably. The police are contacted, who relay these events to Batman. Commissioner Gordon warns the duo that the Penguin may be up to his “umbrella tricks.” Gee I wonder if this was a very common thing in the older stories since all I know about the villain was that his umbrellas hold poison gas.

At 10:15, at a bank across town and Batman and Robin are alerted. They arrive to find the same scene as it was a quarter of an hour ago at the jewelry store, with umbrellas flying everywhere. The duo attempt to stop these menacing parapluies, and Batman compares fighting one of these to wrestling with a flying eel. Now that those are taken of, the duo now have to contend with a giant pair of umbrellas tumbling down the street. The two throw their ropes and are pulled them to a complete halt. Batman tries to figure out what the hell is going on when suddenly an even bigger umbrella that moves like a flying saucer lands in the middle of the street.

The Penguin at his umbrella shop looks at the clock and notices it’s 10:05 (he’ll need to adjust this clock since it’s easily 10:20!) In one minute, the crimefighting duo will arrive to confront him, he predicts. He decides to do the odd thing of putting his monocle on his left eye.

The duo arrive sixty seconds later and they can’t help put notice that the Penguin’s monocle isn’t on his usual right eye. Somehow this is a confusion tactic, and it apparently works as they back to the Batmobile after telling the Penguin they’ll be watching him. Later, the Penguin tells his biggest henchman the reason he used that tactic was to cause a major upset to Batman and Robin with the successful completion of tonight’s plan.

Later that night, the skyline of Gotham City starts changing color as if the Aurora Boreanaz went on a vacation and painted the town red. The lights suddenly fade and Robin finds that two umbrellas were causing the strange light show. Batman figures out the umbrellas hold a clue to what the Penguin plans to steal tonight, a “meteorite” studded with jewels and diamonds.

However, the scene shifts to the Penguin listening in on the duo’s conversation and he laughs with aplomb that the masked manhunter has decided what the villain will steal tonight. He tells his minions to quiet down so he’ll find out the secret on how to take it, or at least learn the “what not to do.” Batman tells Robin about the Jeweled Meteorite and how it is protected by a breakproof window, and with guards searching every floor, nobody can very well get in through the ground. The Penguin might have to break in through the roof with a acetylene torch, and grab the uncovered meteorite with an “extension cane.” Seems fine enough, even if the museum didn’t put a top on the display case.

The plot is afoot as the Penguin and his cronies arrive in style via flying umbrella to steal the meteorite. Batman and Robin spring into action but get magnetically pulled toward another building due to a device the Penguin set up that attracts the metal buckles of their belts. While the two are pinned to the wall, two of the strongest thugs stand waiting for them and are ready to beat them up. A quick distraction allows the duo to unhook their belts and the thugs are easily defeated.

Batman and Robin swing back to the museum, but the Penguin has successfully retrieved the meteorite and is flying away on a rocket propelled umbrella. The duo first take care of his henchman and take their umbrellas to pursue their top-hatted foe. The Penguin decides to lose the meteorite to quicken his escape and throws it away, only to be roped by Robin. The entire gang is sent to jail, and Batman takes his monocle for good measure.

“A Bad Day for Batman!”
Inks: Sid Greene

At an evening news conference, Batman decides to tell a story to the press about a bad day he had. If he pulled this today, the media would have field day, ignoring more vital issues concerning the city.

Anyway, he tells the members of the press about a chase that happened in the daytime as he went after a thief clutching a necklace. The criminal panics and runs across rooftops hoping to escape the grasp of the caped crusader. Batman approaches him and suddenly a glare blinds our hero just as he gets hit by a brick. When he recovers, he finds the crook gone, and a sunbather looking at a mirror. “Tough break,” indeed.

He continues his pursuit and chases the crook into an apartment building. The building suddenly loses power, and Batman has no choice but to move cautiously through the darkened rooms. The crook gets away again into the street. Batman continues and is swarmed by a bunch of kids asking for an autograph. Time is wasted and the crook gets to the harbor. Our hero follows him here and commandeers a boat, while the owner of it tries to tell him something but is ignored. Batman chases the crook into the waters but stops short because he’s run out of gas! He’ll have to wait to be towed back and that’s the end of the story… or is it?

Batman tells the audience that the day wasn’t over yet, because it was today! As it’s 2040, he tells the press that only one of them can follow him to finish this story. Bill Ferris of the Clarion has been chosen and he follows Batman back to the lake. When they arrive, they find the necklace thief in full scuba gear and stay hidden until he returns for his clothes. Batman fights the thief and easily apprehends him. It looks like this bad day became a red letter day. Ha ha ah… I’m going to have dinner now.

A new year for Detective Comics, but do they begin with a doozy of a thriller? Let’s find out!

After receiving some information from Hugh Rankin, Batman and Robin burst into the Gotham Jewel Mart where a few burglars are attempting to make away with the store’s inventory. Curiously, they don’t react when seeing the duo’s presence like any other bad guy. The heroes charge at these thugs and even more strangely they don’t fall on impact! Batman remarks that hitting one of them in the face was like hitting a block of concrete, while Robin has the same though. They try to catch up to the burglars but by they realize as soon as they reach the Batmobile, they’ll be long gone by now.

Batman tells his partner that there is definitely something strange about this crime. He looks down at his gloves and notices rubber specks on them, and deduces that they are dealing with robots, or more precisely “audio-animatrons” controlled by some “master mock-up artist!” In the ride to Rankin’s apartment, Batman recalls the information that was given to him by the private eye earlier that evening at the Mystery Analysts’ Club. Three men were casing the Jewel Mart, and they may be the same people behind the recent rash of jewelry store robberies in the city. Rankin also tells the world’s greatest detective that he will solve the case and let him deal with the robberies. When they arrive at the PI’s office, their secretary, still at work this evening, tells them that he left at 1PM and hasn’t returned yet. Robin thinks that Rankin may be still at the Jewel Mart, watching how the crime unfolds.

He is right, as Hugh Rankin spies on a trio of men who were behaving exactly like the robbers did during the robbery. Another flashback occurs this time regarding those three men, who have been training for days to be in tip top shape. They wore special electronic gizmos to move the audio-animatrons like a puppet or a mobile fighter. Back in the present, an old man dressed like a maestro greets the six persons, the three puppets and three actual burglars. They clean up for the night, and we are treated to a short origin of this “Make-Up Master.” When he was younger he was part of a theatre troupe and learned disguise himself in many forms, from Hamlet to Cyrano to Rip Van Winkle. But he grew tired of this life, despite his pedigree as an actor and turned to a life of crime.

Just as the Make Up Master enjoys the spoils of his victory, the celebration is really spoiled by an intruder alert. The three thugs go upstairs and find Hugh Rankin. One of them shoots a light at him, and the other two go and beat him up. They drag him back to the Make-Up Master, who has just changed disguises to something like Gene Hackman. The antagonist of this play laughs at how they’ll use this intruder as bait for a trap to defeat the World’s Greatest Detective!

Batman and Robin return to the Jewel Mart to find Rankin, and clearly he isn’t there waiting for him. Hoping that he left a way for them to track him, Robin pulls out a special eyeglass to detect a certain chemical or paint. Rankin did indeed leave a trail and they follow it to an seemingly dilapidated theater in the park. They see that Rankin entered the theater, when he didn’t leave a not. The duo enter and find Rankin lying prostrate on the floor. Robin walks to him, but his partner pushes him out of the way, for fear that they will blow themselves up. Upon closer inspection, they realize it’s a dummy wired to explode.

They continue their search and find the three dummies. Batman tells his protege to ignore them, but they spring to life and start fighting them. With precious page space left, they destroy the robots with a good heave ho. Bursting through the doorway, the thugs have their pistols primed and start firing at the crime fighting duo. Batman and Robin slide, forcing all three to hit each other on the head. Meanwhile, the Make Up Master, now dressed like a beatnik, activates more of his machines, this time the titular talking masks. They fly at Batman, but miss and explode into little pieces.

After that little scene is done with, they find Hugh Rankin standing and waiting for them. Batman reveals that he knew the dummy was a fake because he lacked a five o’clock shadow. As they exit outside, Batman sets off the dummy as a demonstration. When they see Rankin pulling at his car, they realize that this one is also a fake, because the real one would’ve remember he locked his door. They tackle and arrest the Make-Up Master, and go back inside to rescue the real Rankin. The PI is disappointed he didn’t figure out this case, meaning he can’t join the Mystery Analysts this time. Batman reassures him if he keeps trying he definitely will.

Apparently the cover was more exciting than the splash page, which features a bug man carrying away Robin in a net. And this bug guy is apparently the one who stole from Batman. A shame that our conception of Catwoman doesn’t appear until the reboot of the DC Comics Universe.

Batman and Robin chase after a grasshopper man who has just robbed a bank. The Batmobile finds itself in a dead end and the duo have to chase after the perp on foot. I always thought it was weird that they end up doing most of the grunt work in these case, when normally a cop chasing after a high level suspect would always have backup. How lazy the police department is with their resources then. Anyway, Batman and Robin reach the end of the alley and find no trace of their prey. They look up to see the grasshopper man who apparently leaped 50 feet on to the roof without the aid of a rope. The duo have no choice but to climb up after him.

When they arrive, a note is attached to their ropes and it reads that their perp will steal the Batmobile. They run toward to the street, and find the Grasshopper man driving away with it rather easily. If only Batman invented the car alarm with anti-theft brakes or something. Anyway, they can’t do anything for now, especially since the Alfred Foundation Charity Auction is tomorrow night.

The next night, aboard the yacht Water Baby, the festivities begin. Robin can’t come to this gala because he’s on backup duty. 😦 Bruce plays host to the guest and tells everybody that Batman will be here in a few minutes. After that announcement, he goes and changes. He returns and begins the charity auction, selling off some of his knick-knacks. The first piece is one of his Batarangs, and when he places it on the podium, the Grasshopper Man emerges and takes it.

Batman, doing a heckuva job maintaining his composure, chases after the Grasshopper man through the yacht, cornering him into the only room in the cabin without an exit. He looks around, and it seems that he’s gotten away once again! Robin is right outside on the Batboat and sees their suspect on the deck. As he tries to go after him, the Grasshopper Man jumps out and knocks Robin off the boat. Batman sees it from inside the cabin and rushes outside to make sure he’s okay. If he bothered to look up, he would’ve notice the Grasshopper man sitting on top of the light fixture. So there’s two of them!

The caped crimefighter arrives outside to find his partner being whisked away in a net by the other Grasshopper man on the Batboat. The villain throws the Batarang, with the thought bubble revealing the handoff was made earlier, at Batman. He catches it and finds a note attached, the Grasshoppers brag about their latest achievement and wonder what will they steal next.

Batman heads back inside and finishes off the event as Bruce Wayne, bringing everybody to port. Bruce greets everybody goodbye as a show of magnanimity, but there is an ulterior motive to that. He’s heard the voice(s) of the Grasshopper Man, and figured out that they are two different people. After saying goodbye to each of the people on the boat, he can determine which one of them is the one who stole the car and the Batarang.

He follows one of the sailors to a dark house. Upon entering, he hears the recording of Robin’s telling him to come inside, and Batman already realizes that it’s all a ruse. Three people are waiting inside the room to shoot the cowled crusader and so he charges through the door, falling down and throwing it toward the gunmen. He beats up all three, including one of the Grasshopper men. However, the other Grasshopper is right behind him and Batman throws the tape player at him. All of the criminals are accounted, and now Batman can go search for his partner.

A quick search finds his partner, his car, and his boat. Batman tells Robin that he’ll have to come back for the Batboat tomorrow, even though the lad can drive it back separately. Suddenly, the phone rings and a mysterious person calling himself the Outsider reveals that tonight’s events were all part of his plan. They may have won for now, but next time, he’ll be even more dangerous, outside of putting a bomb in either vehicle. The duo drive home, vowing that they will be on guard for this new antagonist.

The whole of Gotham City has turned out this morning for an exciting parade by the circus. Leading it is the strongman, Mr. Mammoth, and two swimsuit clad babes. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are among the crowd, providing much need exposition for the parade. After setting up for a few days, the circus is ready to open tonight, and headlining it is a benefit performance for the Police Athletic League.

However, after the parade retreats into Gotham City Garden, Mr. Mammoth tells his boss that he can’t perform tonight. His employer refuses to believe it and gets Commissioner Gordon, who is the chairman of the P.A.L., to talk some sense into him. Mammoth doesn’t reveal much to Gordon either, and asks that Batman help him if he wishes to perform tonight. Batman arrives and learns that Mr. Mammoth has recently experience some spells that make him go berserk. It’s because of these spells that he is unwilling to perform for the fear that he may harm or injure many people. He’s tried many things to stop them, from taking a swim, running into the country, holding his breath, etc. The only bright side is that they last only a few minutes.

Later that day, Batman and Robin go investigate the places where Mr. Mammoth went nuts. They go the park where he punched out an apple tree, and don’t seem to find anything. They go further to the pools, and all they can see is a bunch of kids grooving to the radio if anything. They go elsewhere and find pretty much the same scene. It is then Batman figures out what is driving Mr. Mammoth crazy. With precious little time left, they rush back to the hotel.

When Batman gets up to Mammoth’s hotel room, he hears the sounds of the radio and is shocked that he may be too late to stop him? Have you figured it out? Yes, the radio is driving the strongman crazy somehow. The masked manhunter breaks down the door and finds Mr. Mammoth is in his rage and starts whaling on him. Batman is punched out the window like on the cover of this issue. With some quick thinking, he lassos himself to safety and climbs back up to Mammoth’s room.

Batman goes out into the hallway to stop Mr. Mammoth’s rampage and tackles him down the stairwell. They go all the way down to the main lobby and still neither combatant is tuckered out! Robin and some policemen arrive, and they can’t (or won’t) do a thing to help Batman. The hero tries to trip over the strongman, but is knocked into a revolving door. Mammoth charges after him, and Batman tries to use his judo chops and whatnot, proving his attacks to be very futile. Finally, Batman decides to throw Mammoth into the newsstand. Suddenly, the strongman awakens from his daze, and both parties are pretty tired.

With less than a page left, Batman explains to Mr. Mammoth that the radio station’s jingle was causing him to go nuts. Those notes caused the “basal gaglia” part of his brain, the centers of emotions and instincts, react rather negatively. For a more modern analogy, Kramer going bonkers over Mary Hart’s voice. In the meantime, before Mr. Mammoth can go see a doctor, the radio station will change the call letters to something more banal. That night, Mr. Mammoth impresses the crowds by balancing the entire PAL Softball Team with one hand. Beat that Johnny Carson!

The story begins in media res as Batman and Robin rush through the Gotham City Zoo for a trio of gang members. Placing his ear to the ground, the caped crusader hears the footsteps of the criminals and determines the direction they are headed. In a few short moments they are found and with a one-two punch they are rounded up for the police.

While they leave the zoo for another case or a night’s rest, a strange thing happens inside of the Elephant Habitat. The sounds of elephants crying out is enough for the duo to go an investigate. An mist covers the house and a woman wearing a form-fitting fur costume appears to them, identifying herself as “Gorla, Goddess to All Elephants.” Yes, a blonde white woman is the guardian spirit to an animal found mainly in Africa and Asia. She tells them about a man they know named “Evan Bender,” an animal trainer and explorer who went to search for the Elephant’s Graveyard, where the pachyderm goes when they know it is time to die. She demands that Batman and Robin must stop Bender and rescue him, or else tribesmen will kill him for disturbing the dead. The mist disappears abruptly after her last sentence.

Batman is not very impressed with this show, as he recognizes the woman, Bender’s fiancee, Alice Foss. They run outside and catch up to her for an explanation on why she went through all this for a simple request. She tells time that her fiancee has been missing for three months, and wants them to find him. Now that the “Zoo Gang” has been rounded up, Batman agrees to take the case, now that they have some free time. They make preparations to go to East Africa, and Batman tells his partner that he really does have an interest in this case, especially since Interpol Reports show that a gang of rogue elephants have been terrorizing East African cities for quite some time. He spends the rest of the trip telling Robin factoids about elephants, including the fact that they are practically blind, are strong enough to lift a tree, and be delicate enough to tie a knot. Yada yadda.

The next day, after camping in the jungle, they find a pack of rampaging elephants. Because the two aren’t fast enough to outrun them, Batman and Robin have no choice but to charge straight at the beasts and climb onto their backs. But as Batman tries to pull Robin up, a sudden jolt forces him to fall off only to be caught in the trunk of an elephant. Robin manages to get on top, but his partner gets thrown into a hole.

To save Batman, Robin jumps off an elephant and devises a way to save his partner. He finds some berries to cover his scent, and slowly goes under the beast to evade detection. He crawls back to the hole and throws his rope down and pulls him up. Batman tells Robin something is definitely going on, as elephants don’t attack humans unless they were bothered. They climb up to find a cave, and inside is Evan Bender!

Batman recognizes Bender, and notices that he is wearing a strange necklace that is affected by sunlight. When they go down into the cave, Bender isn’t alone, where a posse of tribesmen await the crimefighting duo. They fight, and Batman manages to grab the necklace off of Bender. Bender recovers from a daze, and tells the tribesmen to cease fighting and go back to the village. He explains to Batman and Robin that for the past three months, he has been in the thrall of a big game hunter named “Red” Loftus. He and his men put the necklace on Bender forcing him to do their bidding. The necklace is made of a strange mineral that not only controls people but elephants as well. Using Bender, the big game hunter made him command the elephants to start ransacking and robbing places. Now that they got Foss’s fiancee back, all that’s left is to capture Loftus.

They go down to the village and find “Red” Loftus leading a charge of armed natives. Batman lassos him, and Bender grabs “Red’s” gun. Bender punches Loftus out, and everything is hunky dory now that a criminal has been captured. The three Americans go home, and Bender is reunited with his love. Back in the Batcave, Dick hangs up the necklace as a keepsake. Bruce regrets that even though they arrested Loftus, they never did find the Elephant Graveyard.

What a doozy of an issue, especially this full length story spans an entire day and the crime-fighting duo makes it home in time for bed!

Batman and Robin arrive at the Gotham City Airport in search of a recently arrived European plane. The man they were looking for runs onto the tarmac as if he is being chased by somebody. Nearby, a thug with a pistol shoots and kills the man. Batman arrives to catch the victim, while his partner chases after the gunman. The gunman hurries to his motorcycle in a nearby hangar, but before he can, the wheels of an airplane achieving liftoff crushes him.

At a small press conference on the steps of the station-house, Commissioner Gordon tells the reporters that the dead man was an agent of Interpol. He was investigating Hydra, the international criminal organization that is not as diabolic as the one in Marvel Comics. Batman vows to the press that just as Heracles defeated the mythical creature, so will he take down this organization. As news spreads around the world about this incident and the masked manhunter’s vow, a smug round-headed man inside a castle takes pleasure that the real reason the Interpol Agent was killed is still a secret.

The next day, the crimefighting duo go on the trail to find the elusive hideouts of Hydra. Their first stop? Holland, where the Interpol Chief hands the two a card with a riddle: “General Sherman slept here X.” Walking around the harbor, and admiring the landscape, Robin guesses that the “X” can mean the blades of a windmill. Batman affirms that the boy is correct, and solves the clue by noting that windmills are named in the Netherlands. “General Sherman” is not so much a reference to the Civil War era military leader, but the legendary redwood tree in Sequoia, California. They head to the “Redwood Windmill” and take out the Hydra agents there.Continue Reading